A big gap in my posts due to a lot of busyness through December and into the New Year. All good. Just away from the computer a lot, and I’m still not finding it easy to publish via mobile. A challenge I’d like to spend more time exploring, but that idea can join the queue.

For now, I’m trying and catch up on disorganised notes about interesting things I’ve enjoyed, and review if this format is the best way for me to documenteer.

Read

Making “Social” Social Again. With Mozi, the new app from Twitter and Medium founder Ev Williams

This feels exciting to see right now. Possibly a tiny part of the shake up mentioned in the ‘to watch’ below about “The Algorithm…”. I find it encouraging that someone like Ev is thinking of ways to make social small and intimate again. And equally entertaining to view this as an evolution and maturity of his tech founding history. From the short burst and wide net excitement of his youth co-founding Twitter, to the more mature, longer form, thoughtful, and considered idea of Medium, to “sod it I’m too old for all the noise now I just want to hang and share with people I actually care for in real life”. This feels also like the direction two old ideas of ours at With Associates could’ve gone. An app called Nudge Nudge, that would have encouraged you to spend more time thinking about the real people that are important in your life. And another called Coterie, that would have tried to make more intimate and trusted sharing circles, with a privacy first design intent, that would’ve made it harder to share with strangers. Ideas are easy and cheap though, so hats off to Ev and all those that actually see their app ideas through. I only wish I actually travelled more and had more friends these days!

Jack’s laws of content (1 of X). Jack Garfinkel, Bluesky thread

“Left unchecked organisations will produce more content than they can maintain… add new content and not delete the content it replaces… reward siloed behaviours and design decisions…” and more. A very true feeling collection of observations from Jack. A fantastic illustration also of how intrinsic ‘content’ is, and and how odd it feels (to me at least) that the role of ‘content designers’ seems to confuse and repel so many stakeholders. A frustrating irony, or an own goal in the “siloed behaviours and design decisions” area?

Context for future designers. Why being your own service archaeologist helps make better services. Vicky Teinaki

I love how prolific and on the nose Vicky is. Someone that needs a bigger or more supported platform imo. And I say that for all she writes, not just this post, even though it stands out for me in promoting ideas I’m very much in agreement with. Documentation, more consideration about endings, and recognition that impact needs to continue after designers roll off. The idea here from Low Downe about ‘service archaeology’ is great, but in my mind needs a far wider lens. Project, intent, and ‘lessons learned from friction’ archeology is what I want. I’m back to the idea of design needing to me more scientific in its methods. And my desire for an effective All Trials-like organisation for design, that gathers and publishes expectations and outcomes of ALL public sector work. A tiny procurement policy at Gov and Local Gov levels, that requires consultancies to openly publish their methods, learnings and outcomes (in a designated format and accessible via API) should do the trick! Easy!

User-centred design, Agile, and government. Vicky Teinaki

See. Yet more essential reading from Vicky that I somehow missed in 2023, and only found now after rereading the above piece, then browsing more of her backlog. It’s bonkers that we have so much good thought in places, and people that aren’t more broadly known or signposted too. Someone, please give Vicky a Design Principle role or similar. Something that helps others justify and realise spending more time with her output. I’m not saying I’m pleased that that sort of thing shines a spot light. It just does. And people like Vicky need more of it.

Godot Isn’t Making it. Ed Zitron, and his continued trouncing of AI hype

“This is not big tech’s big plan to excuse building more data centers — it’s the death throes of twenty years of growth-at-all-costs thinking, because throwing a bunch of money at more servers and more engineers always seemed to create more growth. In practice, this means that the people in charge and the strategies they employ are borne not of an interest in improving the lives of their customers, but in increasing revenue growth, which means the products they create aren’t really about solving any problem other than “what will make somebody give me more money,” which doesn’t necessarily mean “provide them with a service.”” There’s a lot to appreciate in this piece. Good things to add to my own ongoing opinion forming about AI and where I feel it’s going. This part reminds me of another of Ed’s post that I highlighted this year in my post on how growth is killing the economy. It’s going to be fascinating to see how the AI growth curve changes this year.

Scientific management. Wikipedia link. General reading

I’ve been digging back into old management theory and Taylorism of late. Part of a little side fascination with where the heck some of the awful practices of modern company and employment culture come from. I’ve not found any engaging sources yet though. Gonna keep hunting.

Live London Underground / bus maps… is dead 😦

A very sad example of the ongoing and thoughtless attack on the open web. Quite horrible sounding behaviour from TFL.

100 things you can do on your personal website

As per Guy’s /now page below, here’s a load more ideas for personal sites. A fantastic set of ideas from the very thoughtful James.

Straight White Male, the Game of Life’s Lowest Difficulty Setting

Such a great way to explain white (male) privilege. Can’t believe I’ve not heard this one before, especially since it’s from 2012. I’ve struggled in the past in conversation with other white men, when they get angry about the idea that ‘we’re all privileged’. It’s particularly hard with individuals who have come from difficult backgrounds. Broken families, abusive parents, unfair behaviour and treatment by the police etc. They take the phrase of white privilege and feel it is denying every single factor in their life that was clearly not a privilege. That’s the feeling of this phrasing, sadly. The privilege tag can assume absolute privilege, rather than this ‘lowest difficulty setting’ idea: “You can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting. The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on.” Thank goodness for Kottke and occasional resurfacing of vintage posts.

Let’s be honest and specific about where the industry needs to change. Rob Alderson, Design Week

Yes. Let’s. In fact, I feel quite buoyed by reading this in the new year. It resonates with what I’ve been thinking for a long time and brewing in a more concentrated fashion most of last year. Also, love this bit: “In my experience, designers are funny, self-aware and endlessly curious. You are – and I mean this with the utmost respect – endearingly odd.” We are! And we should be doing so much more with that. Must chat to Rob and see if I can siphon more of his agitprop encouragement. More fuel for my own activities and spiky ideas in the coming months.

Maggie Appleton on Growing a Human: The First 30 Weeks

It already felt as if Maggie was a polymath. Now she’s making humans, and applying her reflective, thoughtful and helpful approach to that as well! This is such a wonderful read on “the strange experience of growing a human from scratch, without any conscious understanding of how you are doing it.” It reminded me of the marvelling my partner and I did after learning we were expecting twin boys. For a moment (and still now if I’m honest) it was so hard to believe that her body knew how to build two penises! The whole baby making thing is just crazy when you go through it, and Maggie does such a great job expressing that here, I really can’t recommend this piece enough.

Listen

What I’m Thinking at the End of 2024. Ezra Klein Show

“… what I’m interested in is outcomes… the end points matter… in some ways I do thing that Republicans and Democrats have very similar pathologies on this, which is that both become process obsessed and not outcome oriented. I think the biggest problem around liberal governance is that it becomes obsessed with process. And it mistakes process with outcomes. It is not connected enough with what happens when the money gets spent or when the grant goes out or when the contract is awarded.” There are a few interesting points in this episode, but this one jumped out for being so applicable to UK government, and large organisations in general. All setups that ‘mistake process with outcomes’.

The Happiness of Subtraction. The Happiness Lab

I’ve missed a lot of the output from Pushkin, and while I feel I’ve been aware of The Happiness Lab I’ve never actually listened. Over Christmas while doing a ton DIY and repetitive tasks I listen to a lot. This one reminded me of ideas about ‘subtraction’, and the work of Leidy Klotz and ‘The Untapped Science of Less’. The famous study from which was asking people to resolve the issue with a wobbly Lego bridge, in which most people add blocks, even at cost, rather than taking away. These ideas have always struck me, and resonated with feelings I have about the design industry. People seem desperate to add, adorn, overcomplicate and layer new ideas and systems on top of old ones. Few ever really pause, and think about subtraction and reduction rather than further complexity. Listening to this then nudged my thoughts about what we can subtract from design. Or are there places we could even subtract design altogether? Perhaps pausing and observing for a while is better than rushing to constantly design new solutions on top of old ones. A controversial thought perhaps for a designer, looking to work with people on design projects, but maybe there’s a consultancy offer in helping people to stop! In encouraging less design. Ensuring that what design does get done is actually worth adding.

Writing Online with John Gruber of Daring Fireball

I can’t quite remember the exact route that led me to this 2019 podcast interview with John. Starting in RSS, then a search on his site, then seeing some old post titles, and I think then wondering about his approaches his writing and if he had written about his methods and strategy. As it turns out, he’s talked about them in this. It’s not actually a great listen, but one part hit me. The interviewer paraphrases something he’d heard John say about his writing strategy before, as trying to be ‘entertaining, informative, and engaging’. John responds by saying yes, but that he feels order of those things is also very important, and for him that’s ‘engaging, entertaining, informing’. That may sound like a tiny difference, but I think it’s huge and really important. Almost as important as actually deciding on what your key motives are for creating something in the first place. I liked to that ‘engaging, entertaining, informing’ are very close, if not similes for, ‘educate, inform and entertain’ from the BBC, as I mentioned within my last post. And in turn, these both remind me of TED, standing for ‘technology, entertainment and design’. Less the same, but still resonant. All this basically brings me back to my “what do you think you’re doing” mantra / recurring theme / brewing provocation. But that’s not for an already over long links post. More on that soon. When I get serious with asking myself that very question.

No Stupid Questions podcast has ended. And then started again

I was sad when the NSQ podcast ended so seemingly abruptly last month. I feel there is more to that story than is given in the last two episodes in which it was announced and then wrapped up, but it feels too much like inventing gossipy rumours to share my reckoning. Interestingly though, they’ve decided to now rerun the all the shows in the feed again, from the start. I listened from the start, and remember the experience of listening very well. It was the start of lockdowns and things were weird, and there appeared this weird and very welcomed little inquisitive podcast. I developed deep parasocial relationships with Stephen and Angela (and even learned of that term in one of their episodes), so I must admit to dripping off somewhat when Stephen decided to step away. But over 2024 I began listening again from time to time and enjoying the conversations between Angel and her new co-host Mike Maughan. Enough that I grew reattached, and so feel a hole has been left by it ending. Good for them though, no matter why exactly it ended. I think more things need to have a shorter life, and even more deliberate timelines and endings. That said, I really do like their decision to play it all again, and reckon I’ll keep at it. At least until I’ve properly processed the loss, or until Angela has started a new podcast to replace it properly.

Your Brain Doesn’t Work the Way You Think

I’m getting more into the work of David Eagleman, but still reluctant for some reason to do more than listen to and read interviews with him. This is another good one. Between him, as someone without mental imagery or an inner monologue (Aphasia and Anendophasia) and Steve Levitt, as someone that I reckon is very much on some neurodivergent spectrums, it’s a really interesting conversation for me to listen to. Note, I don’t say that about Levitt with any disrespect whatsoever. If anything, the type of mind and ‘quirks to Levitt are why I think I (mostly) like him so much. This conversion basically illustrates why I think we need more neurodiversity (and even more ideally, cultural diversity) in all spaces. Different people that think in different ways are the essential ingredients to interestingness.

Bits of sound, foraged by Russell Davies into 4764 podcast

Very glad to see another season of these from Russell. Also to have discovered there’s a backlog of even more. Such lovely little collages of ideas, facts, conversations and stories. When they include a few clips from varying other programmes and podcasts, they feel a little like that moment as you’re dropping off to sleep and thoughts begin to emerge without effort and take you pleasantly by surprise.

Music: Sine In. By Posy

Really lovely electronic sounds from Posy, from the Household Objects video linked below. Reminds me of my days listening to Four Tet, Tunng and Matmos on repeat. Even more so with Tube Modelled Distortion. I need to get back to folktronica I think.

Listen/Watch

SECRET linguistic TRICKS influencers use EXPOSED

Meta semantics and psychology from this great YouTuber.

Sample Breakdown: The Most Iconic Electronic Music Sample of Every Year (1990-2024)

I love these super-cut like complications of music history. Some bangers from my youth in here. And brilliant how this shows the sample origin and then how it’s cut, shifted, pitched and played with to create the track. This one for example has Lords of the Underground AND Del The Funky Homosapien samples that I should have, but never did notice. Great marketing by tracklib.com.

Watch

The Algorithm Has Been Hiding Something From You. Kirby Ferguson for NYT

I’m a long time fan of Kirby’s work, specifically on Everything is a Remix which I will keep saying, should be a foundation of every art, design and engineering course. Heck, all courses. This new short from Kirby is a thoughtful reflection that I wholeheartedly agree with. “Amongst creative surplus, we have creative stagnation… Stagnation can lead to an explosive change… When human creativity seems defeated, it’s actually gathering strength and waiting for its moment to erupt.” 100% agree. Positive possibilities are ahead I feel, if we can just encourage and facilitate enough young people. The opportunity they have to shake things up is huge. A prime time to reject the idea that everything is fixed, and that accepting the creative stagnation we’ve forced upon them is their only option.

The Clever Design That Keeps This School Cool in Scorching Heat

Designing buildings with need and function first. More please. Also, while I’m not an architect or interior designer, I have a number of beliefs (read: strongly held, outsider opinions without justified experience to back them up) about buildings. Like, all lighting is task lighting. And, we shouldn’t use conventional room names when designing a building, but rather we should talk only about functions and user needs: The need to cook, eat, sleep, congregate, relax, gather, read, study, work, wash, etc. I think there’s still a frustrated architect in me. The one that was bashed down by adults when making A Level option choices, because I wasn’t good enough at maths and English. Given the mental state of most architects I know these days, perhaps the adults did me a roundabout favour.

Playing Music With Barcode Scanners

Exactly what it says. Ace.

Household Objects (But Extremely Close)

Another wonderful chilled and gently enthralling video from Posy. I love close-ups and macro photography so this one is particularly up my street. It also ties into thoughts about fractals and metaphors. And my deep belief that ‘the sum isn’t greater than the whole of its parts’. Detail is practically endless. The more we pretend it’s not, the more we risk missing critical information and opportunity.

Look

/Now – Guy Moorhouse

A great /now page. Really looking forward to making time to create my own one of these, along with a few other common pages (that being my term for these pages that become soft sort of conventions in the indieweb world) and other ideas as per ‘100 things you can do on your personal website’ above. I’ve just remembered another of these personal website page / convention ideas, from the toni.li/about page, the ‘People I want to meet’ section. Such a nice idea.

Use/Buy

Motorway Services Online – Find the ones with a Leon

I travel with family on long drives quite a lot, but never quite enough to remember exactly where the good and bad service stations are. Trying a recent search for a particular Leon on the way back from Folkestone I found this site doing exactly what I’ve been after. Bit of an old school site, but exactly what the internet needs more of. These good old fashioned sites and ideas (like Live London Underground above), made by thoughtful people.

Learn

Zeebo® Placebo Pills – Literally placebos as a product that you can buy

I learned about these in the Bonus 2024 episode of The Allusionist, with Helen in conversation with Caroline Crampton. While I know quite a lot already about placebo, including that it can work even when participants are told they’re being given a placebo for an ailment, I had no idea that someone had then made a placebo pill product. As in, you buy this, knowing it is 100% a sugar pill, and then you use it to help whatever you want. Utterly fascinating. Both our brains and the placebo effect, and the fact this product exists.

Think

Long Bets

I still think a lot about longbets.org. Half the thoughts about how great an idea it is. The other half are wonderings of why it’s not more well known or supported. It still looks to be alive, albeit sparsely updated. I wonder if anyone is planning a refreshed push on the idea? Hope so. It feels more relevant now than ever. And didn’t Martin Rees win this one about bioterror or bioerror over Steven Pinker due to Covid19? And while this one shows a winner over the chances that the original URL to the bet would still be live after 11 years, it doesn’t say if Jeremy paid up! I see on adactio.com/links/18883 that he acknowledged the loss though. I always wanted a personal app version of this site, for recording our reckonings in a way that would allow us to witness more of our fallibility. I’d have called it Tetlock, in a nod to Superforecasting and ideas as per The Folly of Prediction.